The present invention relates to a machine for cutting flat bodies made of wood, acrylic material, aluminium, light alloy or similar.
The present invention may be used to advantage on lines for producing wood panels, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
In the furniture industry, panels for shelving or for the sides and inside shelves of cupboards or wardrobes are formed by cutting flat bodies made of wood, normally of constant thickness, and of considerable size requiring a cutting machine with a very large supporting surface. As such bodies are normally rectangular, rectangular panels are particularly easy to cut by cutting the bodies along the perpendicular sides.
For this purpose, cutting machines normally comprise a base; an input station with a first fixed supporting surface for the flat bodies; and an output station downstream from the input station. The output station is separated from the input station by a cutting line along which runs a powered carriage supporting a rotary tool, which is fed along the cutting line to cut the flat bodies into strips of the required size. The machine also comprises feed members for feeding the flat bodies from the input station to the cutting line and to the output station. At the output station, the machine comprises a substantially rectangular supporting surface large enough to receive the flat bodies cut completely into strips, and which is connected laterally to the base by a fixed hinge so as to rotate between a first and second work position in the first work position, the supporting surface is parallel to the cutting line and forms an extension of the work surface on the base; in the second work position, the supporting surface is perpendicular to the cutting line and forms a lateral extension of the lateral portion of the work surface on the base to which the supporting surface is hinged. Once the flat bodies are cut into strips in the direction defined by the cutting line, the strips may therefore be cut easily in a direction perpendicular to the cutting line by first rotating the supporting surface from the first to the second position and transferring the strips onto the fixed supporting surface, and then operating strip feed members and moving the carriage with the rotary tool back and forth to cut the strips into rectangular panels, the size of which depends on the set step of the feed members.
A first drawback of the supporting surface-base connection is that of only allowing the supporting surface to assume two given positions with respect to the base, so that the operator station adapts poorly to different output requirements, as when cutting small-size panels for example. Moreover, extending substantially the same length as the cutting line, the supporting surf ace is of considerable size and weight, so that cutting machines of the above type are only feasible for grid cutting large-size flat bodies, and are totally unsuitable for cutting small strips or flat bodies in the form of small boards. For cutting small strips, in fact, such machines are preferably avoided for handling reasons. Moreover, the fixed-hinge connection between the supporting surface and the base limits the freedom of movement of the user and selection of the best work position in which to control operation of the machine. Finally, regardless of the work position assumed, the supporting surface defines the same reference by which to position the flat bodies, which seriously limits the versatility of the machine.